Twisted Reality -- Teen Wolf

[EmilyH]

Twisted Reality

Disclaimers: The recognizable characters from Teen Wolf are not mine. I gave Lewis a last name cause he didn’t have one in the movie. Boof’s dad is mine -- they never showed either of her parents in the movie, as far as I know.

This is a sequel to Shattered Reality.

* * * * *

Chapter 1

It was Saturday, he could sleep in, and at the moment, that was all Lewis Johnson cared about. The 15-year old rolled over and closed his eyes, happy that he didn’t have to drag himself out of bed and into the shower. With his luck, the water would be cold. Suddenly his alarm clock went off. He mentally kicked himself in the rear for having turned it on out of habit. As he reached over to turn it off, he felt nothing except air.

Lewis opened his eyes, thinking he’d just missed it, but then he saw that the alarm clock wasn’t there, and neither was half of his nightstand. It looked like someone or something had taken a big bite out of it and left the rest. Gaping at it, he told himself, “It’s gotta be a dream.” But after several tries of closing his eyes and opening them, and pinching himself (which he definitely felt), he came to the grudging conclusion that it might not be a dream.

Then he was hit by a wave of nausea, which he suspected was the granddaddy of all hangovers. Not that Lewis drank alcohol. He wasn’t that stupid. However, from Stiles’ tales about getting drunk, he figured that this had to be what a hangover felt like. He retched and saw the vomit disappear into thin air -- literally. Desperately wanting it to be a bad dream, he rolled over in bed, closed his eyes, and pulled the covers over his head. Then the phone rang.

“Please let this be a dream, please let this be a dream,” Lewis whispered fervently to no one in particular.

The telephone was on his nightstand, which meant that it was invisible. Now, both the telephone and the alarm clock threatened to drive him crazy -- assuming that he was still sane. Then it occurred to him that if he reached for the phone, he might be able to pull it out of the invisible area. So he did, and was shocked when his hand vanished as well. But Lewis felt the phone, so he pulled it toward himself and was rewarded with both his hand and the phone becoming visible again.

“Hello?” he gasped.

“Hey, Lewis, what’s up?” It was Stiles.

“Funny you should ask. I’m having the weirdest dream ever. At least, I think it’s a dream.”

“That’s funny, because I’m wide awake. You’ll never believe what happened to me yesterday. I’m over at Scott’s. My old man kicked me out.”

“That sucks.”

“Tell me about it,” Stiles answered. “Hey, you don’t sound too good.”

“No, I uh…think I have the flu or something,” he lied.

“Bummer. Oh, uh, I was calling to ask if you could help us clean up the hardware store. Mick torched it yesterday. He’s gone completely nuts. He came over making all sorts of death threats. He almost burned down the house.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. It made the 10:00 news. Look, we really could use your help, but if you’re sick…”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be there,” Lewis promised.

“Great. See ya.” Stiles hung up.

Figuring that the same thing applied to his alarm clock, Lewis reached into the strange invisible space and pulled it out. Then the top half of his nightstand became visible again. His jaw dropped as he flipped the switch on his clock radio, meaning to turn it off, but accidentally triggering the radio.

“Last night’s bizarre arson attacks have put the small town of Beacontown on edge. Harold’s Hardware, owned by Harold Howard, was set ablaze. Mr. Howard is the father of Beacontown high school’s star basketball player Scott Howard, who made headlines two months ago when he turned into a teenage werewolf. Some of the other buildings around the hardware store also sustained some fire damage. At least one car and one other building were damaged during the arsonist’s rampage.

“In addition, the arsonist kidnapped an 18-year old named Pamela Wells. She has returned home safely. One suspect is in police custody, but his name has not been released. In other local news, several wolves escaped from a zoo in Des Moines yesterday. Zookeepers made it clear that they do not want the animals shot at. Locals are being asked to call the police or animal control if they spot the wolves.”

Lewis groaned. He still felt nauseous. Hopefully, whatever bizarreness had started the day wouldn’t continue. He fumbled for the radio’s off switch and found it. Then he put on a T-shirt and jeans and went downstairs.

“Morning, Mom,” he greeted her. She was frying eggs in the kitchen. The smell of fresh coffee filled the air. “I’m going over to Scott’s. It might be a while. There was a fire at the hardware store last night. Mick went totally nuts. They need all the help they can get.”

“Mick McAllister set that fire? I heard about it on the late news, but they didn’t say who it was.”

“Well, I just talked to Stiles. He was over at Scott’s place yesterday when Mick showed up. I don’t know exactly what happened, but it sounds like he really flipped out. Stiles said they were lucky he didn’t set the house on fire.”

His mother, a plump middle-aged lady with light brown hair, sighed. “Mick’s a rotten apple if I ever saw one. I don’t know how he got that way. His parents are good people. Did you know he spent time in jail for theft?”

“Yeah. Look, Mom, I gotta run. I’ll see ya later.”

Lewis was finally out the door. From his place, it was a short walk to the hardware store -- only about ten minutes or so, which wasn’t bad. He couldn’t believe it when he saw the damage that had been done. The windows had been shattered, but were now temporarily covered with clear plastic stuff. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

The outside wall was completely black, the door had been completely destroyed, and through the plastic sheets he could see the inside of the store was also scorched. Police tape had been stretched across the door. The front desk had taken most of the damage. It was possible to see the cash register amidst the rubble. Some of the display racks holding the tools had also collapsed. It was a mess, that was for sure. At least no one had been inside at the time.

“Hey, Lewis,” Scott greeted him. Then he gaped at the mess. “I can’t believe that jerk did this for no reason. That bastard!” His eyes briefly flickered red. He kicked a nearby garbage can hard enough to dent it and forced the wolf back into the shadows of his mind, knowing that his friend was really uncomfortable with it.

Stiles and Harold were coming around the corner. Stiles stopped in mid-stride when he saw the scene. Harold’s jaw dropped when he saw the damage that had been done. “My God, it looks like a war zone.”

Lewis nodded. It did, at that.

“You’re never going to believe what happened,” Stiles said.

“What?” the younger boy asked.

“You’re going to tell him?” Scott asked in disbelief.

“We can trust Lewis. I think we can tell him,” Stiles replied.

“Tell me what?” Lewis asked.

“Lewis, we have to swear you to secrecy,” Scott said. “You gotta promise not to tell anyone about this. Not even your parents.”

“Okay. I won’t tell anyone.” Well, it wasn’t like he didn’t have a secret to keep from his parents to begin with. If his mom knew about his weird morning, she’d probably freak out.

“Wait a minute,” Stiles said, picking up on his thoughts. “What weird morning? Did something happen to you?”

He gaped at his friend in shock. “How did you know?”

“Something really weird happened to me yesterday. I found out I can do some things.”

“Are you a werewolf?”

“No. Just watch.” Stiles set a quarter on the ground. It began to shimmer with a faint yellow glow, then levitated several inches up. “Hold your hand out,” he said.

Lewis’ mouth hung open in amazement. Then he held out his hand, and the quarter levitated onto his palm. “Wow,” he breathed. “That is so cool.”

“Yeah, and everyone else in their right mind would freak out if they knew. So don’t tell anyone. Mick has super powers now, too. He can make fireballs. We all saw him do it.”

Harold nodded. “He has a lot of power and absolutely no sense of responsibility whatsoever. That’s a very dangerous combination.”

“So, Lewis, are you going to tell us about your weird day?” Scott asked.

He hesitated. “I promised to keep your secret. I really don’t want anyone to know about this, either.”

“Hey, don’t worry. We can keep secrets, can’t we, Stiles?”

“Sure.”

Lewis glanced at Harold. Could he be trusted not to tell his parents? It wasn’t like he hadn’t kept secrets before. Heck, he must be pretty good at it if no one had known about werewolves until now. “Mr. Howard, are you going to tell my parents?”

“As long as you don’t place yourself or anyone else in danger, you don’t need to worry about me telling your parents. Besides, I’m an expert at keeping secrets. I was a teenage werewolf once, remember?”

The kid managed a grin. “Okay, Mr. Howard.” He proceeded to tell them about waking up that morning and finding out that his alarm clock and telephone had disappeared.

Scott and Stiles exchanged glances. “He’s gotta be a mutant,” Scott remarked.

“Yeah. I think you’re right.”

Confused, Lewis looked at them. “What?”

“We had a couple of unexpected guests yesterday too,” Harold said. He told him all about Jean Grey and Scott Summers, and what Jean had told them about mutants.

“So you think that I’m a mutant?”

Stiles nodded. “I’d say there’s a fairly good chance.”

“But I don’t even know how I did any of it.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

Lewis grimaced. “I guess I should be glad my power doesn’t have anything to do with starting fires. I just wish I knew what it was, exactly.”

“Don’t worry,” Harold told him. “You’ll figure it out soon enough.” He glanced at the wrecked store. It would probably take more than one day to clean up the mess, but the work would go faster with the kids helping.

* * * * *


Chapter 2

See part 1 for disclaimers.

* * * * *

Lisa Marconi, known as Boof to the teenage population of Beacontown, woke up with a strange tingling feeling in the back of her head, which she attributed to pins and needles. She glanced at her clock and couldn’t believe that it was already 9:05 am. She didn’t usually sleep that late on Saturdays. She put one of Stiles’ leftover Teen Wolf shirts, a light blue one that read “Have you hugged a werewolf today?” After putting on a pair of jeans, she went downstairs.

Her father, a tall, skinny man in his early forties with glasses and an accountant by profession, was reading the newspaper. The headline read “Bizarre Arsons In Beacontown.” Her mom was nowhere in sight. She worked nights and was probably still sleeping.

“Morning, Dad,” Boof greeted him.

He glanced up. “Oh, hi, Lisa.”

She rolled her eyes. Her parents were the only ones who used her real name. Even most of her teachers called her “Boof.”

Her dad smiled. “I can’t understand why you like that crazy nickname. How’d you get it, anyway? You’ve had it for so long, I’ve forgotten.”

“Scott gave it to me when we were about two. He couldn’t say my name at the time, so for some reason, he just called me Boof, and it stuck.”

Her dad nodded. That explained it. She’d had a crush on Scott Howard from day one. He was a good kid, even if he’d gone a little nuts with the werewolf thing for a while. Jim Marconi couldn’t really blame him for going overboard. Other kids would’ve done far worse.

Lisa had told him that Mick had punched Scott at the spring dance and nearly broken his nose. In return, Mick had gotten a few scratches for his trouble. He had been lucky, but now Jim wondered if it wouldn’t have been better if Scott had punched him instead. Maybe a broken rib or two would’ve taught him a lesson he badly needed, judging by what he’d done last night. Setting those fires had been incredibly stupid.

“I still can’t believe what the McAllister kid did last night.” Jim shook his head. “Did you see his eyes glowing yellow? And the guy with the laser beams shooting out of his sunglasses? Unreal.”

“He did stop Mick from setting the house next door on fire,” Boof replied.

“I know. I watched from the window. Lisa, I’m glad everyone’s all right, but I wish you would’ve stayed home.”

“And abandon my friends? Are you kidding?”

“You could have been seriously hurt.”

She supposed it was the fatherly thing to do. She was his only child, and sometimes he was very overprotective of her. In fact, she suspected that the reason her father encouraged her friendship with Scott was because he knew that Scott could protect her from just about anything. But she didn’t need anyone’s protection. “Dad, I’m fine. I can take care of myself. I’m 16 now. I’m not a little girl anymore.”

“I know,” he replied with a smile. “But you’re my only daughter, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“That’s sweet, Dad, but nothing’s gonna happen to me. Listen, I’m going over to the hardware store to help clean up.”

“Okay. If I get some of my work done early this morning, I might join you.”

Boof nodded and headed out the door. The beautiful day was a sharp contrast to last night’s surreal events. She wondered how many people knew exactly what happened.
As she walked down the street, Boof couldn’t help but notice that the grass looked a bit greener, the sky looked bluer, and the flowers were brighter. It was a bit odd, but not too weird, so she didn’t think much of it.

By the time she arrived at the hardware store, the tingling sensation in the back of her head had vanished. Harold, Scott, Stiles, and Lewis were cleaning up. She couldn’t believe how much damage Mick had done to the store.

“Hi, guys,” she said. “I came to help.”

“Hey, Boof.” Scott managed a grin when he saw her T-shirt. “So, have you?”

“What?” she asked, momentarily confused.

“Have you hugged a werewolf today?”

She grinned and put an arm around him. “Now I have.”

“Hi, Boof. Glad you could make it,” Harold said, happy to see that she had shown up. “Is that one of Stiles’ T-shirts?”

She blushed. “Yeah. The only one I liked. What can I do to help?”

“Grab a sponge, dip it in the bucket, and take a wall. Be careful with the cleaning stuff.”

“Okay.”

After two hours of cleaning which went fairly quickly, Harold suggested they take a break. A bakery down the street had just opened up for the day. The enticing scent of freshly baked doughnuts, bread, and cinnamon rolls wafted through the door, which had been left open to get rid of the smoke smell. So they decided to go there.

It wasn’t until they’d finally gotten doughnuts and seated themselves when Lewis noticed a furry animal sitting in the doorway. At first he thought it was a dog, but then he realized it was a wolf with silvery-gray fur and green eyes. Must be one of the wolves that escaped from the zoo, he thought.

*I smell good food,* Scott suddenly heard in his mind. He was so surprised that he nearly spilled his pop. “Stiles, if this is your idea of a joke…”

“What joke?” Stiles looked at him in confusion.

Harold blinked in surprise, also having heard the strange voice. “That wasn’t you?”

Stiles shook his head. “Can someone clue me in here?”

Boof had heard the wolf too, but she wasn’t about to say anything with the lady standing behind the counter there. She looked at Scott in amazement.

“Well, if it wasn’t Stiles, then who…Lewis?” Scott asked.

Lewis shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The wolf raised her head, looking directly at Scott. *You would not happen to have a bite to spare, would you?*

As he realized he was hearing the wolf in his mind, the stunned teenager jerked back as if he’d been punched and nearly fell off his chair. As Lewis gaped, Stiles tried his best not to laugh. He finally picked up on the thought, but it was Scott’s thought he overheard, not the wolf’s.

“Dad,” Scott asked when he’d regained his balance and his composure, “why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“Because I didn’t know,” Harold answered honestly, starting at the wolf in disbelief. His face had gone pale.

“You didn’t know we could talk to wolves?”

“I’ve never been this close to a wolf before. Certainly not since I was 16.”

Scott sighed. “Is there anything else I need to know about, Dad?” His dad shook his head no. Then Scott broke off a piece of his doughnut and tossed it out to the wolf.

She softly padded over and sniffed it. *That is not meat.* She sat back on her haunches and regarded him with piercing green eyes that seemed to bore down into his soul, finding the part of him that was wolf and gazing into its eyes. *You do not have any meat?*

“Uh, no. Sorry.”

The wolf looked at the doughnut piece disdainfully. *This will have to do, then.* She snatched it up and ate it. Then she padded out of the bakery.

Scott stared at the retreating wolf. He hoped that she’d be able to evade capture, but she was too tame. She was probably used to people from being in the zoo. He wished he could do something to help her. Stiles looked at him as though he were crazy. He probably was, but he felt sorry for the wolf that wanted to be free.

* * * * *

Betty Anderson was running errands when she noticed the bakery was open. She needed bread. Entering the bakery, she glimpsed what looked like a wolf retreating into the shadows of an alley nearby. No, it couldn’t be a wolf. Not in Beacontown. It must be a dog. Besides, didn’t wolves usually stay away from humans?

The middle-aged blonde woman noticed Harold, Scott, and three other teenagers who looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t put names to their faces.

“Hello, Harold,” she said pleasantly. She couldn’t help but notice that he looked a bit more pale than usual. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Betty, it’s nice to see you again. Scott, this is Betty Anderson. We went to high school together. She was a good friend of your mother.”

“Oh.” Scott extended his hand. “Uh, hi.”

She shook it. “Well, you’ve certainly grown. I can remember when you were four. You must be about 16 now.”

“Yeah, but my birthday’s next month, and there’s even going to be a full moon.”

She nodded. “I’ve heard you’ve been keeping your father on his toes.”

“Yeah, you could say that. It wasn’t entirely my idea, though.” He elbowed Stiles, who was sitting next to him.

“Harold, I’m so sorry to hear about what happened to your store. I sure hope that young man gets what’s coming to him. I’m just glad you’re all right.”

“Thanks, Betty. The store will be fixed. In fact, we’ve been working on getting it cleaned up today.”

“That’s good.”

They chatted for a few more minutes, and then Betty had to get her bread and go. The rest of the day was spent cleaning the store. Lisa’s father showed up in the early afternoon and helped out. So did a few of their other neighbors. It looked a lot better than when they’d first seen it that morning.

Scott couldn’t help but wonder about the wolf, though. He wondered where she was and if she’d made it to freedom.

Boof hadn’t had a chance to tell anyone about hearing the wolf because there had been other people around them all day long. She waited for a chance to tell Scott, but she didn’t get it, and finally she had to go home with her dad. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” she promised. Reality was twisted, and it was going to take a long time to get used to it.

* * * * *

The End